The new Scott Addict has one goal at its core: to be “long ride ready,” according to Jean-François Boivin, the bike’s lead engineer. Whereas the previous version of the Addict was like a much cheaper version of the Addict RC race bike, this new Addict saw Scott go back to the drawing board to develop an endurance bike that’s said to be 50 per cent more compliant than its predecessor.
It also sees tyre clearance increase to 38mm, with tweaked geometry to accommodate the extra rubber and down tube storage – even if accessing it is a bit different from other endurance road bikes.
It’s not all back to the drawing board, though. Scott has borrowed features and details from last year’s Scott Addict RC, including the multi-tool stowed in the handlebar and the lightweight seatpost junction, as well as the softer tube profiling. There are no sharp angles here, only smooth, pleasing lines.
As well as supporting the 'long ride ready' mission, these features are about making the Addict easier to live with, which I found out when I rode the new bike back in June.
Riding up to the Tour de Suisse finish
I tested the new Addict 10 (£5,499 / $6,699 / €6,399), with the top-spec HMX carbon frame, on a ride from Scott’s headquarters in Fribourg, Switzerland, up to the finish line of stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse at the Schwarzsee mountain lake.
Unknown to me before I arrived in Switzerland, I would be riding with more than 100 Swiss Scott dealers and Scott staff. We formed our own peloton ahead of the pros who would be coming along the road behind us a few hours later.
After leaving Scott’s headquarters, I was soon on smooth, sweeping Swiss roads that were surrounded by luscious green fields and vistas that dropped away or rose dramatically into picture-postcard scenes.
The fact I could pay attention to the views wasn’t solely due to the pristine tarmac; the Addict was immediately comfortable, freeing me of the acclimation process you can experience with racier bikes.
Scott has shortened the reach and increased the stack of the new Addict. This meant I was in a more upright and comfortable position, with my weight planted further back on the bike. It felt almost like some gravel bikes, where the position and weight distribution help you negotiate tricky terrain.
The comfort also came from the 34mm tyres that were fitted to the bike and the extra compliance in the frame, thanks to the bike’s tube shapes. The Addict has a thinner top tube and down tube to introduce flex. The seatstays curve and flare outwards, helping to smooth any bumps and vibrations that travel through the rear triangle.
The flipside to this comfort is I wondered how the Addict would feel once the pace increased from a leisurely amble taking in the Swiss countryside – however much I was enjoying the cows, fields and peaks – to something a bit quicker. I began to get a sense of the bike’s potential on the descent back to Scott’s HQ – and that potential has a lot to do with the development process behind the bike.
Three prototypes and a fast descent
When Scott was developing the new Addict, it produced three prototypes with different levels of stiffness in the bottom bracket and head tube. After blind testing, the majority of testers preferred the prototype with comparable stiffness levels to the Addict RC.
Although the difference between stiffness levels is purported to be only a few per cent, I appreciated it when descending through the Swiss forest that lined the roads down from Schwarzsee.
Hitting speeds close to 40mph, it helped having the accurate steering that comes with a stiffer head tube. And when I needed to close a gap (living in the flat lands of London isn’t great for my descending skills on fast, sweeping mountain roads), I felt the Addict responded to my pedaling eagerly.
In fact, the Addict was deceptive. I only realised the speed we were travelling when I checked my smartwatch after the ride.
Still, there was part of me that yearned slightly for the more reactive feel of the Addict RC race bike. What I’ve been describing is sensible, reassuring, ultimately practical, liveable, and suitable for most riders, including myself. Yet I wanted the buzz of a race bike – a bit more ‘whoosh’, that would've been manageable on the impeccable roads I was flying down.
That’s why I found it intriguing that Scott’s Syncros components can be used across the Addict RC and Addict. How would Scott’s latest endurance bike feel if you switched its -6˚ stem for the RC’s -11˚ cockpit and turned it into a racier machine?
Farm tracks and gravel trails
These thoughts about getting a bit lower, a bit faster, on the Addict went out of my head towards the end of our ride.
Now only with two other journalists and a group of Scott employees, we ventured off the wide roads onto farm tracks and gravel trails. This is when I really began to enjoy having the 34mm tyres, enabling me to be less concerned with my line, and the ride position made it easier to pick a way through the larger rocks and stones.
But that brings me back to what this bike is intended to do. With its in-built rear bike light, and 'get you home kit' of an inner tube and pump hidden in the down tube (accessible via a hatch by the bottom bracket), and not forgetting the integrated frame bag, Scott evidently wants to make your riding easier and more practical.
It achieves this. But ease and practicality aren’t always the most exciting concepts, even if, when it really comes down to it, that’s what most of us should opt for.
